


Tiny Light

by fishfingersandjellybabies



Category: Grayson (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 03:53:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8188598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfingersandjellybabies/pseuds/fishfingersandjellybabies
Summary: They were the toughest of the tough. Smarter than most. And here, they were suddenly at a loss, all because a child showed up.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based loosely on the Nightwing Rebirth issue, where it shows all Dick’s buddies kind of helping him track down the thingy to save Damian’s life. Dick lives, obviously. By the ~power of love~

Helena stared across the machine’s readouts. “…This doesn’t look good.”

“Nothing that idiot ever does _looks good_.” Tiger snapped. “But…he’s made it through before, no doubt he will again.”

“…Still.” Midnighter, solemn for once, hummed. He looked across the body in the bed. There were so many bandages and bruises and casts…if he didn’t already know who it was, he’d have a hard time guessing. “If…well, if I were in this kind of shape, I’d want Apollo called.”

“He isn’t married.” Tiger returned in an almost sneer. He wasn’t fooling anyone, of course. They all sensed his own concern underneath the barbs. “And you’re _different_.”

“Not _that_ different.” Midnighter countered. “And I just meant…family. Batman.”

“…He wouldn’t want them to see him like this.” Helena responded this time.

“Look, as surprising as it may be to you _superspies_ , it isn’t all about what _Dick Grayson_ would want.” Midnighter hissed. “It’s about what his _family_ would want. What his family _needs_.”

Tiger and Helena just looked at each other.

“Oh, just let them say _goodbye_ , for gods’ sake.” Midnighter droned. “And I don’t mean Batman. Don’t want Batman around? Fine. But he had three _brothers_. A _sister_. Some other…undefinables. What, they have to suffer just because you don’t like the big bad Bat?”

Tiger looked away. “He isn’t _dying_.”

And Midnighter shot back. “You don’t _know_ that.”

“Never took you for such a _pessimist_ , Midnighter.” Helena quipped harshly.

“Not a pessimist.” Midnighter returned coolly. “I just call ‘em like I see ‘e-”

The doors to the lab suddenly crashed open without warning, and in walked a kid dressed to the toes in wild colors, who barely came to any of their hips. His face was hidden by a green eye mask, but what they could see was set in a ferocious pout.

There had been security in the building. Tough security. _Impossible_ security. They could see none of it, and no alarms had been tripped.

“What happened!” He shouted, even before any of them registered that it was Robin, the famed and feared. The one, they didn’t realize yet, that was so fondly talked about, by the one currently dying on the hospital bed. “Tell me, or I assume guilt, and kill each and every one of you.”

Despite their surprise, none of them were fazed.

“Robin doesn’t kill.” Midnighter called, even as the child continued to stomp their direction, hands balled into fists.

“He does when he has to.” The child spat. And they all knew the words unspoken.

_He does for Nightwing._

“An attack in Sweden.” Tiger responded boredly, as Robin rushed past them without a glance, his focus on Helena. “He started fighting before any of us could get there, despite us telling him not to.”

The boy stopped at the end of the bed, and finally, his attitude seemed to falter, as he grabbed the bed’s railing and clung to it in comfort. Silently, he took in the injuries, and the machines Dick Grayson was hooked up to. Glanced at their readings and numbers, and nodded his thanks when Helena held out his medical charts.

“Which one is that, you think?” Midnighter hummed quietly, as Helena joined them. “Aren’t there like, twenty Robins?”

“No.” Helena rolled her eyes. “But as far as I’m aware, he is the most recent. The one who trained under Dick, when he was Batman for that short time.”

“Is he the one…?” Midnighter sighed. “Aw, _hell_.”

Helena and Tiger looked at him.

“That’s the one he talked about all the time.” Midnighter held his arms out in front of them. “That’s the one he referenced, and told all the stories about. That’s the one-”

Helena’s eyes were instantly wide. “That’s the one the Court of Owls threatened to force Dick do their bidding.”

They all stopped.

“…What did he look like?” Midnighter whispered, even sadder now. “When he _begged_ you to help him with that?”

“What, help him find a solution to get the bomb those bastards implanted out of the child’s face?” Tiger growled. “…Pathetic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man so… _grieved_.”

“Or _guilty_.” Helena added quietly. “There was so much self-loathing in his eyes, when he explained to me the situation. Blamed himself completely, for the danger his youngest brother was in.”

“Told me he wasn’t going to rest until he fixed it. Until that little boy was safe.” Midnighter added. “Never seen a man so relieved either, when I gave him that little gun to fix it. He thanked me every day for _two weeks_ after that. Said I was the real hero here, for getting it from the God Garden. Said he owed me his _life_ for that. It was wild.”

“…So who’s going to tell him?” Tiger murmured. “Who’s going to tell Robin that his mentor might be dying?”

They all looked down.

“…Buncha babies.” Midnighter huffed after a pause, as he stepped forward. He slowly made his way towards the child, and the younger didn’t look at him, even as he crouched next to him.

He watched the boy for a moment.

“…How’d you get here?” He asked first. “How’d you know he’d be here?”

“Since Grayson’s _last_ disappearing act, I got smarter.” The child explained clinically. Flipped through the pages of the chart like he was a real doctor. “I have a tracer that monitors his vitals, and a GPS sewn into multiple items of his.”

“Oh. Resourceful.” He commended, and then stopped. Let the beeping machines echo between them. “…Look, there’s no easy way to say it.” Midnighter sighed, running his hand along his lips. Robin just dropped the page he was holding up, stared desperately at the front of Dick’s medical chart. “There’s…a pretty decent chance that…well. Grayson won’t make it.”

“…I’m aware.” The kid whispered, holding the charts a little higher, like that explained it. “It’s…it’s part of the job. He knows that.” And then softer, as he finally looked up at Midnighter. Even with the lenses, he could see the child’s sad, misty eyes. “ _I_ know that.”

And looking at this kid – Tiny. Eighty pounds soaking wet, maybe. In the colors of a legacy far too big – all he could see was Dick Grayson _pleading_ with him, with any contact or inside man he knew. Begging for a solution, because his baby brother was in _trouble_ and it was _his fault_ , and he couldn’t _live with himself_ if something (else) happened to him.

“Now, we’re going to keep trying and all that, of course. This was just a warning, but…” Midnighter looked the kid over. He was tense, and scared, so like that day Dick ran to him, scared for this boy too. “…Can I…can I tell you something, Robin?”

Robin sighed, like Midnighter was an annoyance, but hooked the chart back onto the bed anyway, and turned to face Midnighter completely. “I suppose.”

Midnighter just stared up at him, pushing his tongue into his cheek, and licking his lips a few times, before:

“He…loves you a lot. More than…anyone, I think. And that’s just an outside observation.” Robin’s eyes widened further, and his haughtiness dropped away instantly. “He…would do anything for you, I think. Even break that moral code of his.”

Robin was frozen.

“The last time I saw him. _Any_ of us,” He motioned back to Tiger and Helena. “Saw him, he was on a mission. Looking for anything that might get that nasty bomb out of your skull.”

“…He said he got it from you.” Robin breathed. “So, thank you. For saving my life.”

“I didn’t do shit – _crap_.” Midnighter corrected instantly. “…He talked about you all the time. Really hyped you up.” Another pause. “I think…I think thinking of _you_ really got him through all the tough times out here, when he was with Spyral. When he was forced to team up with me. We’re all pretty bad people who kept trying to pull him down, and…thinking about you really kept him in the light. I’m almost positive.”

Robin’s lips were parted in surprise, and in question.

“He just. He loves you _so much_ , kid.” Midnighter nodded to himself. “And, you know, if he does die here, today. I just…I just think that’s something he’d want you to know before he passed on.”

Robin was shell-shocked. Face pale and tight. Eyes wide and guilty. After a second, he clamped his mouth shut, and swallowed the lump in his throat, turning to look at the man on the gurney.

“…May I stay?” Robin croaked, looking back. Midnighter blinked, and looked back at the spies for confirmation. “May I…may I lie with him? Please?”

Tiger and Helena glanced at each other, before Helena moved forward. “I don’t see why not.” She smiled gently. “Who knows? Maybe you being here will help.”

She put a careful hand on the boy’s shoulder, leading him to the side of the bed, and helping him up onto the mattress. She held up wires and blankets until the boy was comfortable, curled into Dick’s side, before laying them back down and going back to her machines.

Tiger and Midnighter took their spots and the end of the bed once more, and watched as Robin gently took Dick’s hand, and cradled it against his chest.

“…Do you believe in miracles, Midnighter?” Tiger asked a few minutes later.

“Not particularly.” Midnighter shrugged. “You?”

“No.” Tiger responded. “But…if ever one were to happen, I think it would be here. Now.” A smirk. “With this idiot.”

“You know?” And Midnighter smiled himself, even as Tiger walked away, as he watched Dick’s fingers twitch in Robin’s careful grasp. Only a millimeter, definitely less than that, kid probably didn’t even notice it, but. It was something. Something this dying Dick Grayson wasn’t doing before this child came to the room.

He turned away himself, soul suddenly at ease and finding himself hungry, and head towards the door.

“I think you might be right.”


End file.
